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Focusing on the Entire Painting

“I feel like as artists it’s hard to focus on one thing because we see
the big picture. It’s hard to focus on one piece when you’re focusing on the entire
painting.”

One of the most exciting moments of buying a new CD was
opening the plastic case, taking out the booklet and memorizing the lyrics of
each song. That doesn’t totally ring true for Melanie Fontana.

When she would first crack open that plastic case, she automatically
bypassed the lyrics for something she found more important – the people behind
the song. Sure, the artist was in the credits as one of the writers. But who
were the other people? She investigated.

When she wasn’t researching people like Larry Rudolph or Max
Martin, she was writing songs of her own. Fontana initially started songwriting
as a child, and can’t say how many cassette tapes her mom owned that should
have had songs by Michael Jackson or The Monkeys but instead held home
recordings of her daughter’s made up songs.

Her professional songwriting career brought her out to Los
Angeles but things didn’t necessarily work out the way she planned. She ended
up taking a step back and removing herself from songwriting to perform on a
cruise ship. Once she saved up enough money and felt like she finally got her
life back on track, she went back to North Hollywood and made it work.

“Having any kind of success is basically just luck plus
talent plus timing and that’s really all it is,” Fontana said. “For me, those
three stars just lined up at that moment.”

That moment she’s referring to is her first major label cut.
It started out with a friend of hers running into Nasri, talented songwriter
and member of the band MAGIC!, at a networking event. Her friend sent along
some of Fontana’s work to him, and then suddenly she was in the studio with him
writing “Home This Christmas” for Justin Bieber’s Christmas album, Under The Mistletoe.

After that, she signed a publishing deal with Universal
Music. She’s had the opportunity to write songs for Britney Spears, Aaron
Carter, The Chainsmokers, Krewella and BTS. Each opportunity has come from
luck, timing and talent, as well as not being afraid to fight for what she
wants.

“As a writer, as an artist, you have to push and put
yourselves into situations,” she said. “Ask for people’s contact info and bug
someone’s manager a few times. You can’t really take no for an answer because
if you do you’ll never get into a room with anyone good.”

Her dedication to research and getting her foot in the door
has paid off tremendously and continues to pay off. That Larry Rudolph name she
read years ago that turned out to be Britney Spears’ manager? He used one of
Fontana’s songs as an example of a good pop song at one of his workshops.
Yasmine Yousaf, one half of EDM band Krewella who has co-written with Fontana? She
officiated Fontana’s wedding. With a bit of luck, timing and talent, a simple
name printed on the inside of a CD booklet can mean so much.